clark



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

J.T. OLARK-. AUTOMATIG AIR SUPPLY FOR PROPELLING CARS.

No. 400,302. Patented'Mar. 26, 1889.

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(No. Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- J. T. CLARK.

AUTOMATIC AIR SUPPLY FOR PROPELLING- CARS.

No. 400,302. Patented Mar. 26, 1889..

ATTORNEYS,

N, PETERS, Photu-Lilhographar. Washington. a. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. CLARK, OF LA GRANGE, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR OF 'lHREE -FOURTHS TO LEONIDAS O. PRESSLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,302, dated. March 26, 1889-.

Application filed June 11, 1888. $erial No. 276,780- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN THOMAS CLARK, of La Grange, in the county of Troup and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Air-Supply for Propelling Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of an improvement in that system of street-car propulsion in which compressed air is conveyed along the track between the rails in a pipe, which has at intervals along the track valved outlets, with which inlets on the car temporarily communicate in passing to permit a fresh charge of compressed air to pass from the pipe to the receiving cylinder or reservoir in the car,

' which reservoir supplies the air-cylinder and drives the engine between the supply-points.

.My improvements consist in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts for supplying the car with charges of air from the pipe as said car moves along the track, which I will now proceed to fully describe with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the car and road-bed with air-pipe and valve-outlet. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same. Fig 3 is a sectional perspective view of the road-bed. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of the slot-valve, and Fig. 5 details of the lower end of the induction-pipe.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the car, in the top of which is arranged a reservoir, K, for compressed air, from which there leads a vertical pipe, J, which has an upwardly-opening check-valve, Z), near its lower end, and just above it has branch pipes j, that lead to the cylinders B, which drive the crank-axles D and wheels O. For convenience, the car is provided with outwardly-facing seats, which are specially well adapted to the overhead arrangement of the reservoir; but said reservoir may be placed elsewhere, and the seats of the car may face inwardly, as

usual.

stop-cocks or valves G, by which the air may be turned oif. At the upper end of branch pipe F is slot-valve section I, which is braced to the rails by arms I and to the pipe E by arms H H. This tubular shell I is disposed horizontally a very short distance above the road-bed, and has its ends bent downwardly. This tubular shell is slotted throughout its length on the upper side, and along the sides of this slot, either on the inside or outside of the tube, are riveted to the tube two flaps or strips, 0 c, of leather, rubber, or other similar flexible material. These two leather strips or flaps run the full length of the slot, and are made of such width that their free edges fold down and abut against each other at 0, (see Fig. 4,) and form an elongated or slotted check-valve, which is tightly closed by the pressure of compressed air within the pipe.

The lower end of the pipe J on the car is flattened to form a double-convex inlet mouth-piece, a, which is open at. its lower end and extends down to range of engagement with the slot-valve I c.

In the operation of my automatic feed devices, when the car reaches one of the slotvalves along the line, the flattened mouth piece a of the pipe J strikes in the slot of the slot-valve I c, and, pressing apart the two edges 0' c of the elastic flaps, puts the interior of the air-pipe into communication with the reservoir K on the car, the compressed air passing up through check-valve b and storing a charge in the reservoir that serves to drive the engine until the next supplystation is reached. As the car moves along from one end to the other of the slot-valve, the flexible edges 0' 0 open in front of the mouthpiece a and close behind it without permitting any air to escape, the mouth-piece sliding along the entire length of the slot-valve in this manner, the edges of which slot are kept well lubricated for the purpose of reducing friction and making a tight joint that will not permit leakage of air.

I am aware of the Patents Nos. 383,826 and 338,681, in which it is proposed to supply a car automatically with compressed air at intervals along the route. I am also aware that a continuous slot-valve has been arranged in a pipe to supply air to a car; but I do not know that an underground con1pressed-air pipe has been provided with valved branches F G at intervals along its length, which valved branches terminate at the top in horizontal valve-sections I, with the ends thereof bent down, and a longitudinal slot-valve in the same, the downwardly-bent ends serving to permit the mouth-piece a on the car to pass into and out of the slot-valve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination, with a continuous airpipe, E, of valved branches F G, arranged at intervals along the same and terminating in slotted valve-sections I, bent downwardly at their ends and provided with a longitudinal slot-vah'e composed of continuous elastic flaps, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a car having a con1pressed-air reservoir and a mouth-piece, a, leading therefrom and projecting below the car, of the underground pipe E, having branch pipe F, with stop-cock or valve G, the slot- Valve I c, with flexible strips 0 c, the bracearins 1, connecting the slot'valvc to the rails, and the brace-arms II, connecting the slotvalve to the pipe E, substantially as and for the purpose described.

JOHN T; CLARK Vitnesses:

EDWD. W. BYRN, SoLoN C. KEMON. 

